News Right Now: Out of Control

Welcome to the News Right Now: Out of Control

The shocking number of mass shootings in America are far higher than anyone outside and even within the country might think. The last five years have seen more mass shootings than any other comparable time span dating back to 1966, with 31 massacres from 2017 through 2021, compared with 24 from 2012 through 2016.

According to data analysis by the Marshall Project, mass shooting is defined as an incident where four or more people are shot. So far this year, the numbers average out to 11 mass shootings per week; 2021 saw a total of 692 mass shootings throughout the year. According to the Gun Violence Archive, the July 4th Highland Park shooting is the 15th mass killing of 2022 and the 11th mass shooting of the holiday weekend alone. As of July 5th 2022. There have been 309 mass shootings in the United States; meaning that 124 people are killed every day!!

Looking back over the first half of 2022, here is a full list of the mass shootings that have taken place in America this year, organized by month:

January: 41 mass shootings, 59 dead, 128 wounded

February: 43 mass shootings, 40 dead, 174 wounded

March: 52 mass shootings, 47 dead, 217 wounded

April: 66 mass shootings, 75 dead, 271 wounded

May: 67 mass shootings, 87 dead, 324 wounded

June: 68 mass shootings, 78 dead, 275 wounded

These numbers accumulate to a total of 386 people dead and 1,389 people wounded.

Last week during the 4th of July Independence Day celebrations, one of the latest mass shootings happened in a wealthy Chicago suburb, where a gunman aged 21, unleashed the power of a high powered semi-automatic rifle, into crowds celebrating the public holiday. He killed seven people and injured close to a hundred others. As well as this only a few weeks ago in May, 19th children and two teachers were shot dead in Uvalde, Texas by an 18-year-old gunman inside their own Elementary school as police failed to confront the attacker for 77 minutes! The continuation of the blood bath a few weeks later, a white supremacist drove 200 miles to Buffalo, New York, dressed in paramilitary gear to commit an act of hate, by shooting up a supermarket which left ten dead and three injured – all the dead were black.

As America tries to understand the reasons behind this obviously systemic and ever increasing problem, which is one specific to the US, and not shared by any other country in the world to this degree. The question is asked whether the cause of such pointless violence and the callous disregard of life is due to the extreme mental health problems of the perpetrators or the lack of government regulation around gun laws.

The Hinckley Institute of Politics’ recent poll found that 43% of Utahns believe mental health treatment challenges are the principal cause for mass shootings. Another 27% attribute them to inadequate gun laws, 11% pointed to inadequate security at schools and other public places, and 18% say it's something else. Overall, less than half of respondents who identified themselves as Republicans said mental health treatment issues are the main cause of mass shootings, while slightly more than half of Democrats attribute the shootings to poor gun control laws - and this poll is indicative of the USA’s overall opinions

Specifically on the issue of mental health, a 2019 article reported that people with mental health disorders are more likely than those without such conditions to commit acts of mass violence, but many mass shooters do not have mental illnesses. It has not been shown that mental illness is the primary cause of mass murder. "No one who commits a violent act is mentally well," said Beth McGinty, a mental health and substance abuse policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, drawing a distinction between mental illness and mental wellness. But that doesn't mean that the person meets the criteria for a mental illness or that treatment would have eliminated that person's violent act.

Equally vague are the contentions around the country’s 1789 gun law, which is the ‘right to bear arms’, enshrined in the second amendment of the US Constitution, which is the real reason for America’s unhealthy relationship with guns. In relation to this law there has still been no definitive judicial resolution in respect to the regulation of the purchase, possession and transportation of these weapons or any workable proposal to curtail its ownership.

While America grapples at unraveling its tangled rhetoric, the root of the problem is clear to others. Capitalism has shaped a godless, hyper secular and hyper liberal system which has elevated personal freedom and economic acquisition as the highest values in society. These overriding values have allowed laws to be passed that are not in the best interests of ordinary people, because clearly families are increasingly affected negatively by a multitude of societal ills, and have been since the birth of the nation.

However the desire for personal freedom and financial gain is so great for a population brainwashed into thinking their way of life is superior to all others, that the negative consequences of drugs, alcohol, guns and the sex industry, as well as their consequent sub industries are overlooked, and little to no focus is given to the root causes of crime, violence, mental illness and suicide, however much these manifest and spread throughout society.

Islam is an alternative way of life, which upholds taqwa, within an individual, family and the wider community and therefore also the society at large. This mentality of God consciousness creates a people who can live within a system of laws, accepting the natural boundaries and penalties that must exist for a cohesive and healthy, progressive, co-operating society to flourish – rather than one that uses its laws against its fellow citizens, as in the case of gun violence.

A society that values accountability and collective growth is definitely more sophisticated than one that puts the individual at the heart of every matter, and such societies reduce the prospect of mental illness caused by the tsunami of inappropriate, unhealthy and ignorant practices that are upheld as the American/Western cultural norms of today.

Ummah Voice Podcast
SoundCloud Link: Click Here